In this landmark educational finance opinion (presented here in full) the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Texas case was not a proper case in which to examine a State's laws under standards of strict judicial scrutiny. That test, according to the Court, is reserved for cases involving laws that operate to the disadvantage of suspect classes or interfere with the exercise of fundamental rights and liberties explicitly or implicitly protected by the Constitution. In particular, the Court held that (1) the Texas system does not discriminate against any definable class of "poor" people or occasion discrimination based on the relative wealth of families in a district; (2) although education is one of the most important services performed by the State, it is not within the limited category of rights recognized by the Court as guaranteed by the Constitution; and (3) this was an inappropriate case in which to invoke strict scrutiny since it involved the most delicate and difficult questions of local taxation, fiscal planning, educational policy, and federalism. The Court concluded that, although concededly imperfect, the system bears a rational relationship to a legitimate State purpose and is not, therefore, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. (Author/JF)

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